The Initial Cannabis Business License Application Portal Just Closed. How Many Businesses Have Applied?

Kentucky is nearing its first day of medical marijuana being legalized in the Commonwealth. Many Kentuckians can look forward to getting the medicine they need on Jan. 1, when they are able to apply for medical marijuana licenses, colloquially known as “weed cards” in other states where medical marijuana is legal, but recreational is not, including states like New Hampshire (2013) and Oklahoma (2018).

There is a group however that won’t have to wait to apply to sell marijuana to residents of Kentucky, and they are coming in droves. According to Stephanie French, the executive director of the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services since Feb. 2024, the Office of Medical Cannabis has received exactly 4,998 applications from various businesses all across the Commonwealth.

“With respect to processing, the Office of Medical Cannabis processes all applications via several layers of review and allows applicants who have deficiencies identified in their applications a ten-day opportunity to cure those deficiencies,” she said.

Businesses that are looking to sell medical marijuana, but have those deficiencies, can still fix them even while applications are closed for this short period. As LEO Weekly previously reported, business owners who want to sell will have to go through rigorous review from the Office of Medical Cannabis to be allowed.

Once an application is submitted, the review will look at each application to see if it’s fully completed, and once all “deficiencies” are fixed, it could take up to 45 days or more to notify an applicant if they have been approved.

But starting next month, Kentucky will hold a lottery to distribute medical marijuana business licenses, marking a crucial milestone in the state’s efforts to launch its medical cannabis program.

Despite overwhelming interest in the program with nearly 5,000 applicants, only 48 dispensary licenses will be issued across the entire Commonwealth.

“The demand is undeniable, especially from Kentuckians. This shows the program is on track to succeed,” said Governor Andy Beshear in a Team Kentucky update on Sept. 5.

The state is currently reviewing all the applications, and the lottery will be divided by specific business roles. The first licenses, which will be issued in October, will go to processors and cultivators to ensure the program is ready for its January 2025 launch.

The lottery process includes each applicant getting their own “unique numerical identifier,” which will be used to find each applicant when the Kentucky Lottery Corporation (KLC) will conduct an “anonymous, randomized lottery for each license category necessary,” which will provide the Cabinet with an encrypted file showing which identifier matches up with the applicant with an approved application. Once the lottery is finished and each applicant is identified, the Cabinet will announce the results of the lottery.

Those looking to open dispensaries are among the most applicants during the application period. There have been 4,076 of all 4,998 applications listed under dispensaries. All others include cultivators, tiers 1, 2 and 3, as well as processor applications and safety compliance facility applications as well.

There were also highlighted areas where applications were coming from in Kentucky. With so many applications and so few spots, the Office of Medical Cannabis broke down the applications by region to parse through where new dispensaries, cultivator sites, processing plants and safety compliance facilities were going to end up.

“When we launched this program, our goal was to ensure that our licensing process was transparent and provided everyone a fair shot at being a part of this new, exciting industry,” said Beshear. “Today, the results are clear. The incredible interest in this process, especially among Kentuckians, is proof that this program has met that goal and is set up for success now and moving forward.”

Kentucky’s medical marijuana program is quite restrictive, allowing access only for individuals with certain qualifying medical conditions. As a result, the demand for cannabis is expected to be lower compared to states with broader legalization.